Roosevelt County Chamber’s
Legislative Report
Jan. 15, 2018
by Karl Terry

What a Difference a Year Can Make
The 2018 New Mexico Legislature got under way at noon today in Santa Fe for a short (30-day) session with Gov. Susanna Martinez’ final State of the State speech.

This time last year, the state was singing the blues and waiting on a revenue projection that only brought worse news. By the time the 60-day session was over the Governor was mad and doing things that some saw as childish. After the session was over the Democrats decided the best way to get even was to sue the Governor and nothing got accomplished to complete a budget until a special session was finally convened quite a while later.

This year oil and gas are flowing back through the veins of the state budget and hope springs eternal. The Governor revealed today that the latest estimate is for $330 million in new money this session.

Instead of budget cuts both sides are talking about budget increases and pay raises all around. “Let’s get this drunken spending party started.” We hope not, but that’s likely what’s about to happen.

The Governor is proposing a 1 percent salary bump for state workers with teachers to get more. Key Democrats have said they would like to see 1.5 percent for state workers and 3 percent for teachers.

The 30-day session is primarily reserved for budget items and the Governor’s call. She plans on taking up several education initiatives along with crime prevention bills and even tax reform. Our best guess is that most of the action will be focused on education.

Legislative Reports To Go Out Tuesdays
This is the third year we’ve tracked happenings in Santa Fe through this report that is emailed weekly to over 500 of our Chamber’s member reps. This year our plans are to break it on Tuesdays.

We urge you to let us know if you have certain bills or initiatives you’re following whether specific to your business or organization or of interest to us all. We’ll get the word out and hope that’ll help move the ball in favor of business.

The Chamber will also be in Santa Fe on Jan. 29 for our Clovis/Portales Legislative Appreciation Dinner at Hotel Santa Fe starting at 6 p.m. We hope you can join us there that evening as we get a chance to visit with and offer our appreciation to our area lawmakers. The link to register is http://clovisnm.chambermaster.com/events/details/2018-legislative-dinner-2015